Washington Capitals at New York Islanders - 8/18/20 NHL Picks and Prediction

The Washington Capitals need a win here to save their season and force a game five on Thursday. The Washington Capitals are averaging 1.67 goals per game and are scoring on 19.1 percent of their power play opportunities. TJ Oshie leads Washington with three goals, John Carlson has four assists and Alex Ovechkin has 23 shots on goal. Defensively, the Washington Capitals are allowing 28.3 goals per game and are killing 95.5 percent of their opponents power plays. Braden Holtby has given up 16 goals on 172 shots faced.

The Capitals are 5-1 in the last 6 meetings in New York and 0-4 in the last 4 meetings. The road team is 10-1 in the last 11 meetings. The favorite is 39-19 in the last 58 meetings. The under is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings in New York. The over is 5-1 in the last 6 meetings.

You can make a case for the Washington Capitals in this game, as they're coming off their best showing of the series and are a veteran team that should have enough pride in hopes of avoiding a sweep. The Capitals are also a much better offensive club than what they've shown in the bubble, and if they get hot, they're more than capable of getting back in this series. The issue here is the New York Islanders have quietly played some of the best hockey of any team in the bubble, and they're very well coached, getting after it defensively and have done a great job of holding onto a lead once they get it. We've backed the Islanders in every game this series and there's no reason to back out now, especially when getting such a cheap price.